Review: VuQo Vodka

Distilled in the Philippines (that’s two firsts!) using updated methods used to make a sort of Filipino coconut tequila, this vodka is quite neutral and, unfortunately, a bit less exciting than the story behind it.

The nose hints at sweetness, perhaps with tropical overtones. But a sip reveals a vodka that still carries a lot of Old World medicinality in it. This astringency grows as you drink it, masking any of island notes it might have had on the nose. The finish offers a bit of relief from this onslaught, though. It turns back to sugar and, for the first time, offers a hint of the spirit’s coconutty origins.

Overall it’s a perfectly credible vodka, but probably one better served as a mixer than neat.

oh, p.s. – equally galling – the blue agave plant (from which tequila is derived) is from another part of the world – particularly the southwest americas. this type of alcohol, the lambanog, is derived from one of two largest coconut producers in the world located in southeast asia. get it right if you’re going to post a review.

“Tequila” is used as a euphemism here — “a sort of Filipino coconut tequila” — meant as a reference to the production process. I was not remotely trying to imply that this was made from agave but rather that it is distilled from a regional plant. Sorry if you didn’t get my prose.